Nine lives
by GygyFr
Summary: OS drabbles with injured Casey until he has "no life left". Still 3 chapters to go. CHAPTER 2 ON. I don't own any characters of the #OneChicago shows #Dawsey and #Sevasey for the most of it
1. Five lives left

Hello hello everyone! I know it's been a while since I did update in here, but I barely got time to write something down these past few weeks, and I surely won't have much time until june or summer holidays. I am sorry, but my scholarship first (you can understand, right?)

I started writing this one shot two weeks ago, before the photo promo from the next episode of chicago fire got puplished, and I realized since then that my story has a (kind of) link with what would happen in 5x05^^ In a way, but not entirely.

I also used my short free time to write another chapter for Stay alive (for those who alos read my other stories, update tomorrow night _EU time_), and I am working on the next chapter of Face it together (and it will be a hard time for Matt).

For now, just enjoy this OS ^^

* * *

What a strange sensation to feel like you are falling. This impression of emptiness between your own body and the rest of the world, what surrounds you. This presentiment that everything seems frozen, or working in slow motion when in reality, it is not the case at all. Brain can play with you like a piece on a chessboard, as if you are a toy for it. You think living again your own life in reverse, as if everything can escape you. You can stretch out your arm and try to catch it, but it just escapes between your fingers. And you continue to fall, again and again, while you see the scene you are living going further away. How long this fall would last? Minutes? Hours? In reality, it lasted only a few seconds, maybe five, but five seconds were long when you are in such a situation. It was an impression of living your last moments, as if death would take you after this fall, this gaping black hole, this void that formed when your heart stopped beating, when your lungs ceased to work, when the brain was definitely gone. When death came, everything was over. And when the man's body landed on the ground, it was in a monumental crash. His oxygen bottle still stuck on his back, he felt it sink into his flesh, as if the force of the fall was so powerful that his shoulder blades surrounded this metal bottle. He heard his back crack under the pressure, preceding a sharp pain in his neck and lower back. But the fall was not entirely over. The base of his head hit the burning floor and his limbs, his arms and legs, were attracted by the unstable floor. The most horrible part to live was to feel his lungs squeezing tightly, as if he was now unable to breathe. He tried, but not a gasp of air came out of his lungs. This suffering was so unbearable that this sudden and violent shock and his inability to breathe properly made him quickly lose consciousness, lost in this burning immensity. All the firefighters had seen what had happened, in every detail. Surprise and fear had paralyzed each of them, and after a few seconds, after shaking their heads, they really understood what they had just seen. One of them had just passed through the floor and had just landed several floors below. Christopher Herrmann was the first to truly react, while the other members of the team remained frozen. He carefully approached the hole left by his colleague and friend, and urgently caught his radio. He turned it on, and started screaming, not hiding his panic.

"Mayday, Mayday! Man down! Casey just fell through a hole on the floor!"

Outside the building on fire, it was panic. As the chief and the responsible of the entire call, battalion chief Wallace Boden was trying to keep his calm and his composure, but deep down, he wanted to scream and run inside the building to save his men. Moreover, in an instinct, he had made a slight step forward before changing his mind and catching his radio. The paramedics, Sylvie Brett and Gabriela Dawson, were also both worried. It was logical after all, Dawson was now married to the lieutenant in charge of Truck 81, Matthew Casey. And they perfectly had noticed this slight step from their chief, this gesture he had made to catch his radio as fast as possible and turn it on.

"Herrmann, do you have a visual?"

The couple microseconds following this question were a long and slow agony. Nobody didn't know what Christopher would say, or would explain. In fact, no one knew anything.

"Uh... I can see his torch, but... The smoke is too thick!"

Boden was praying with all his strength. He wasn't a believer, but he was praying with all his heart, he wanted Matt to only have superficial wounds.

"Oh, dear Lord, he's unconscious! I can hear his pass-device, it has just set out!"

In order to listen the whole conversation and get as much information as possible, Gabby had approached Boden, deeply worried. She had just heard Herrmann scream into his radio,yell to explain that Casey's pass-alarm was now activated. But Boden knew that it sometimes happen to turn it on in order to be found in the smoke when something happened. Yes, they were all panicked, but they were hoping that this alarm meant nothing but 'find me'. The battalion chief was truly out of his mind, but he had to remain calm, he was in charge of this call and he had no right to be distracted, even if it was legitimate.

"Spread in two teams, one continues the search and rescue, and the other rescues Casey. Squad 3, what's your ETA?"

"This is Squad 3, ETA two minutes!"

Of course, the whole team had heard everything on their radio. And obviously, Kelly Severide was the most worried. Was Casey conscious? Badly injured? Or was it to be found more easily in this burning space? So many questions and no answers yet. He felt a hand resting on his shoulder, and by instinct, he jumped and turned his head. It was Cruz, and he was worried too. He had been his team leader, and he knew that this situation didn't bode well. Because Casey hadn't yet spoken into his radio, and it necessarily indicated that Casey had lost consciousness.

"Casey is head-strong. We'll get him out", Joe Cruz assurer to his team leader, sketching a slight smile to counter his concern.

Seeing this effort made by one of his men to reassure him, he relaxed and smile nervously.

"Yeah, you're right. Capp, Tony, you'll help the search and rescue team. Cruz and me are gonna help Herrmann."

"Copy", they said with one voice.

As Truck 81 had to continue the search and rescue while rescuing their team leader, Engine 51 couldn't delay the fire spread with the hoses, it could only make things worse. With chief Boden's approval, they decided to exceptionally go on their 'support' mode, meaning that they were going to do the same tasks as Truck 81 to help them. It was rare, but they all had gone to the Firefighter Academy of Chicago, they knew what to do or not, they could be useful. The team spread, Mouch and the new Candidate going out of the building to use the aerial in order to continue their job, because the hole was as large as the corridor and they couldn't get through. Stella Kidd and Herrmann took the stairs to get to the floor to which Casey had fallen, paying attention to the unstable wooden floor which was catching fire slowly. Dawson had remained near the chief, seeking as much comfort as possible by listening the radio and telling herself that everything was fine, that she knew Matt so well. She would have felt it if something bad had happened, and it wasn't really the case. She just had a presentiment and she was concerned, of course, but it wasn't invasive, it was just logical. Brett had made a gigantic effort to go back to the ambulance and prepare the stretcher, the backboard, a neck brace as well as their two aid kits. When Herrmann and Kidd finally arrived near Matt, their first reflex was to cut the activated shrill alarm on his right shoulder and t check the extent of his injuries. Despite the thick smoke depriving them of their sight, they were close enough to Casey to see that his eyes were closed through his oxygen mask, and that he had a very difficult breathing. Kidd removed one of her gloves to place her fingers at his carotid to perceive his pulse. She waited a few seconds before shouting.

"His pulse is very fast and his breathing is shallow!" she announced to Herrmann.

"He must have some broken ribs or something!" he said, catching his radio once again. "Dawson, Brett! I need a backboard ready and a neck brace!"

At the same time, Kelly's team arrived on scene and they all went down quickly. As expected, Capp and Tony immediately took the aerial to join the search and rescue team with their SCBA on their back, while Cruz and Kelly headed toward their chief and the two paramedics.

"Squad 3 just arrived on scene. Cruz and Severide will bring you this", battalion chief Boden explained to Herrmann.

"Copy! We're on the second floor!"

Each firefighter were looking at each other, everyone knew what to do. Kelly's gaze fell on Gabby, telling her without a word that he was going to bring Matt back to her as Cruz grabbed the backboard and the c-collar. Arriving at the entrance door of the building, they put on their mask to protect themselves from the inhalation of smoke, lit their lamp hooked to their gear and entered by bending slightly forward and slightly kneeling down. All firefighters knew that at ground level, smoke was less thick. Difficultly, they found the stairs, carefully ascending the steps one by one to not fall. Noises of cracking began to resonate in the space invaded by the flames, a major sign of the instability of the structure. On the second floor, Herrmann and Kidd were still trying to access Casey's injuries while moving him as little as possible. Having his bottle still on his back and landing on it after falling three floors, nobody wanted to risk a spinal cord injury. As Stella was the most qualified for the paramedic things, as she had passed her certification at the same time as Gabby, she was busy determining the injuries of her lieutenant. Since he was still unconscious, Stella formed a fist and rubbed Matt's sternum. A sharp wave of relief seized Herrmann and Kidd as they heard Casey grunting very slightly. It was barely audible, but it was there. It was a short relief, because instantly, Matt tried to move his head slightly and was seized with immense pain. His first reflex was then to frown, squint his eyes, make a grimace and open his mouth, and of course, all this at the same time.

"Lieutenant, try to move as little as possible. You hear me?"

At first, his brain assimilated absolutely not what Herrmann had just told him, but the pain was so imposing that he knew that at the slightest movement, it could trigger a new wave of unimaginable suffering. Instinctively, he decided to remain motionless, trying to understand what was happening to him. Why did he get hurt? What had happened? Where was he? This pain didn't allow him to think properly, but he made a great effort to try to answer these questions. The building on fire. Access to the fifth floor. The sensation that the floor slipped under his feet. His inability to catch up. His fall. Pain. Black out. He remembered now, everything came back in successive and intrusive wave and.

"Casey, can you open your eyes?"

Trying to concentrate more, he noticed his hard breathing, and it was only several seconds later that he perceived this sharp pain in his chest. All his right side seemed to be inflamed. Each puff of air he was trying to take became harder to catch than the previous one. He wanted to scream, to cry with all his strength, but no sound came out, he was hurt and lacking air. Nothing could help him focus on anything other than this excruciating pain felt. It took him several seconds before he could truly understand and assimilate that he had just been asked to open his eyes. Why? To have even worse pain? No, he didn't want to. But these voices were so insistent that he had to do it. Very gently, his eyelids began to move as he opened them, letting him glimpse a horrible world. There were flames everywhere, several shapes moving around him, but he couldn't distinguish anything, everything was too blurry. Then he decided to close his eyelids again, he was too tired and he didn't like what he was seeing. It was a nightmare, and he wanted everything to stop, right here right now. His cries inaudible of agony made him mad, the pain he felt in his back and especially in his neck had no qualifier, and even the word 'hell' had no meaning to express this horrible suffering.

"He's in shock", he heard a female voice explain. "Look how he trembles."

"Or maybe it's the pain that makes him tremble?"

"Or both?"

He didn't understand what it meant. What did all this mean? Why did no one answer him? He felt deep inside him that he wanted to speak, that he wanted to put words on his pain, but only his lips were moving, and no sound came out, each word remaining stuck in his throat. Was hew shouting now? Was he the one who was screaming desperately? Did he really hurt? The people around him seemed to be agitated, but although he was trying to concentrate on what they were saying, it was impossible to calm down. Suddenly, the world had fallen silent and he could only hear him. His own voice echoed in his head, and radiated throughout his body, as if his voice had the power to move his limbs, as for hypnosis.

"Casey! Matt, calm down! I know you're in pain, but you have to calm down!"

Despite all the words of Herrmann, his leader didn't calm down, quite the contrary. The more he spoke to him, the more he seemed to panic. It was only when Kelly and Cruz arrived near the group that Matt began to shout slightly less.

"Hey, Casey! Everything's fine, I'm here, don't worry."

These words were the first to penetrate his mind since his sudden panic attack. The fact that his best friend gently put his hand on his left shoulder relieved him so much that he regained control of his body and his mind, and suddenly stopped screaming. Through the split mask, surely due to the force of the impact, Matt could glimpse Kelly's features, he could also feel big drops of sweat, undoubtedly mixed with those emerging from his eyes, flood his face.

"I'll get you out, Matt. I promise. But it will hurt."

The lieutenant of Squad 3 then took a knife out of his pocket to cut off the straps of the SCBA. It was necessary that Casey could be placed on the ground, even better on the backboard, and no longer on his oxygen bottle.

"Cruz! Lay the backboard here, and give me the c-collar!"

"But, lieutenant..."

"No buts, Cruz!" He interrupted, shouting, not in anger, but above all to be heard by his colleagues. "Come on!"

Cruz executed, placing the backboard where Severide wanted it to be.

"Okay! Stella, can you put your hand in Matt's back to ensure his stability?"

"Like it's done!"

"Cruz, Herrmann! We'll slide him on the board! Herrmann, you're going to take his head and put your hand in his neck to keep his head straight! Cruz, you're gonna grab his hips!"

"Copy!"

All had perfectly assimilated what Kelly wanted to prevent Matt from suffering too much during the transfer from the ground to the backboard. They all set up, and Kelly came to catch the stretcher and stick it perfectly next to Matt, so that his fellow firefighters had only to drag him over.

"On my count ! One ! Two! Three!"

This movement lasted only a few seconds, but they were so painful for Matt that he began to scream even more, so much was grief seized him. He had the impression that his own body was disconnecting from his head, as if nothing retained it. However, he always had his sensations of tingling everywhere, and his chest seemed to be on fire, as if he had swallowed a fire itself. Was it the end? Was that how we would die? The same hand came to rest one more time on his shoulder, it calmed a little.

"We'll get you out of here in a few minutes, okay? First of all, I must pass the c-collar around your neck!"

Matt said nothing, he no longer screamed, he waited for the end to come, peacefully. He could no longer endure this agony, this unimaginable suffering. He could no longer struggle. He felt, however, something cold to stick to him, to his neck, which relieved him for a brief moment, before his head was moved to close the neck brace and keep everything straight. He then felt that his arms were grasped and placed just below his chest and that safety devices were used to keep his body perfectly straight on the board while he was being taken out of this hell. Expected by the two paramedics, the rescue group finally came out of the building, each of the four firefighters being on each side of the stretcher and trying to keep it as stable as possible. Sylvie and Gabby rushed towards them without Boden's approval, and lowered their stretcher so that the firemen could lay the backborad on it. Once done, Herrmann and Severide struggled to remove the oxygen mask that Matt was still wearing. After a minute of hard work to move Casey as little as possible, they were able to remove the back strap of the mask and he finally breathed the icy air from outside. The contrast of the cold on his skin, the frozen air he breathed at low and fast puffs with the burning sensation he felt, made him shudder. This shudder rapidly gained the base of his back and went up the length of his spine, causing him to yell even more painfully inside.

"His pulse is fast and thready, and I think he has several broken ribs and a pneumo, left side", Stella said.

Gabby grabbed her stethoscope in his emergency kit, and with the help of Christopher and Kelly, Sylvie unfastened Matt's jacket and then gently cut out his shirt. A large bruise had already formed along his rib cage, just under his left arm. His skin was stained with bright colors, blue, purple, even black in some places. Brett had no choice but to grimace at the sight of this bruise, just like the three other firemen around the stretcher. Trying to stay as alert and calm as possible, Dawson blocked the earcaps in his ears and placed the head on his chest to listen to his breathing and the beating of his heart. She focused, not paying attention to what was going on around her. What she heard in the stethoscope didn't please her. The sound of his breathing was diminished on the left side, indicating a possible pneumothorax, but in view of the hematoma formed, everything indicated a hemothorax. This sound of breathing was jerky by the very rapid beating of Matt's heart, as if he was choking. In just a few seconds, although everyone thought it had been several minutes since she was working, she made a diagnosis while trying to feel whether her husband actually had fractured ribs. She paid attention to the level of the wounded area, and was perfectly aware of Matt's inaudible cries. She knew that he was suffering, but that he had too little air to make a sound.

"He has a haemopneumothorax and his lung is partially collapsed. He must be taken to the hospital, and quickly!"

"Chicago MED is the closest."

"Then drive as quickly as possible to take us there", she commanded her colleague and friend.

Sylvie nodded and turned urgently to the ambulance to take the wheel while Gabby, aided by the four firefighters, entered the stretcher in the back of the ambulance. Kelly then turned to the battalion chief, as if he wanted to ask him one more thing. But he didn't have time to say anything, Boden understood.

"Go ahead. Capp will cover you."

He had guessed everything. Severide was unable to work when Matt was the one on the stretcher. This had happened only a few times, but these were the only times that were ranked among the greatest terrors of his life. To thank his leader, he nodded and went into the ambulance, so that Cruz could close the doors and give the starting signal by tapping twice on the window of the back door. Sylvie then started the ambulance while Gabby was busy placing an oxygen mask on the face of the man of her life and regulating the oxygen bottle at its maximum flow.

"Kelly, you know what to do."

She couldn't do everything by herself, she needed help. Then, as she grabbed patches to stick them on her husband's bruised torso, Kelly got up to look for an IV port in the many drawers. Luckily, he knew where they were and found them the first time. He took one, and not without difficulty, he withdrew Casey's fireman suit, murmuring an apology to his best friend if he hurt him. Once removed, he placed the tourniquet just above the elbow in order to possibly see a vein, but even using all his concentration, he saw nothing at all.

"His veins are collapsed, I think", he said, keeping his composure, even though deep inside him, he was panicking.

"Let's trade our places."

Within seconds, Kelly was in Gabby's place and vice versa. She tightened the tourniquet made by her friend more closely and eventually found a semblance of vein, even though she didn't know if it really was. Luckily, she pricked properly, and she could quickly connect the IV port to a bag of saline to keep Matt haemo-dynamically stable the time to get to the hospital. At the same time, Kelly hurried to connect Gabby's patches to the ambulance's portable monitor, at least to know Matt's vitals. A regular and very rapid alarm then invaded the ambulance

"His heart rate is at 156."

"I'll inject a dose of morphine."

Gabby stood up and placed her face above Matt's. His eyes were still open, but it seemed like a battle he had trouble winning, he struggled not to close his eyes, he could concentrate on nothing but the pain he felt. It was relatively unbearable for his wife to watch him suffer in silence while she knew he just wanted to scream in pain. So she put her left hand on his right cheek to get his attention, and once their eyes met, she smiled nervously.

"Matt, babe, I'm going to inject you some morphine. This will relieve your pain, okay?"

Before she had his consent, she prepared an injection, implanted it in the IV port and emptied the syringe completely. Quickly, the pain dissipated, even if it persisted slightly, it had just become bearable. His heart rate also decreased under the effect of the injected painkiller, to the great relief of Kelly and Gabby.

"Heart rate dropped to 134", Severide said.

"Brett, ETA?"

"We're here!"

Since the bag of fluids was already almost empty, Dawson connected a second one while Sylvie parked the ambulance right in front of the emergency entrance. She went out to open the back doors, and then helped Kelly and Gabby pull out the stretcher and head towards the hospital doors. When they opened, April Sexton and Dr. Ethan Choi rushed at them, followed by Dr. Will Halstead.

"Thirty-eight-year-old man, falling three floors through a hole and landing on the oxygen bottle!" She explained, remaining as objective as possible despite the tears that seemed ready to flow over her tanned skin.

Arriving on the paramedics and seeing Kelly near the stretcher, the doctors and nurses understood almost instantly who it was. This new patient was Matt, Gabby's husband, Louie's father, their alderman.

"Possible SCI, several fractured ribs and left haemopneumothorax", Gabby continued in a trembling voice. "Pulse at 134, BP at 164 over 137, O2 stats at 96% with the oxygen mask. Injection of five of morphine and two bags of fluids."

"Room 2 is free! Let's go!"

"I want a full blood test: ABG, CBC, and I want to know his hematocrit! And tell the blood bank that we may need blood! Gabby, you know his blood type?"

"Uh, he's O positive", she stammered.

"Maggie?"

"I'm on it!"

"I need x-rays! Now!"

"Coming!" A nurse shouted.

Matt was reconnected to a monitor, this time to the ER monitor, and April was able to read the results.

"Pulse at 142, blood pressure at 171 over 154, O2 stats at 95%."

"x-ray is here!"

Numerous seconds passed as if they were minutes or even hours. It was horrible for Gabby to know her man in such a critical condition, and she had to restrain herself from shedding tears, even if it seemed perfectly legitimate. She wanted to stay with Matt, but a nurse took her out of the room where he was, just like Kelly. They were paralyzed by what they could see, by these doctors who were busy around Casey in order to make the final diagnosis. Several tens of minutes passed without any information, in an absolute blur. Brett had called main to put the ambulance out of action for a while, and about thirty minutes later, the paramedics and Kelly were joined by all the members of the firehouse 51. Everyone was worried, especially Casey's teammates, which seemed logical. Another half hour passed before they could see a doctor approach them.

"For a three-story fall, Casey is doing pretty well. As you know, he had a haemopneumothorax on his arrival in the ER and a possible spinal cord injury. The haemopneumothorax was caused by one of his ribs which pierced his left lung. We have placed a chest tube to drain the pleural effusion, but our best option is surgery to prevent recurrences and treat his lungs. As for his spine, Casey has a stable C4 fracture, and he has a significant bruise in his lower back due to the oxygen bottle. We will monitor the fracture, but it is stable enough for a simple immobilization of the neck. He also has other rib fractures as well as bruises, but nothing significant. As I said, he was very lucky."

"I guess he'll be out of work for a while?"

"Indeed. The time to recover from a fracture is already long, but even more when practicing a dangerous job. Everything will depend on his recovery time, but he will be out for at least eight weeks."

"And uh... Can we go see him?"

"He will leave in a short time for surgery to repair the damage caused by his ribs, but I let you see him for a few minutes. He's pretty groggy because of morphine, so be very careful", Will advised them by pointing out the way. "And if possible two or three people at a time in the room, not more!" The doctor said.

He knew the firefighters too well and was suspicious of them, in the good sense. But no sooner had he turned his back, they all rushed to see him, Gabby and Kelly entering to be with Matt, and the others stopped right at the door. The two friends approached the bed, preferring to stand, each on one side of the bed. His breathing seemed to be less of a problem, even if it remained fast, thanks to the chest tube that had pulled out the pressure in his rib cage. Now, he needed only a nasal canula to get an extra dose of oxygen, and his heart rate had also dropped below 120 beats per minute. His neck remained immobilized thanks to a rigid c-collar with chin and thoracic base, to ensure the perfect immobilization of his neck and the complete and rapid healing of his cervical. Hardly, his eyes opened, to the great pleasure and relief of Gabby, who sighed longly.

"Hi, champion", Kelly said, smiling.

Matt had much less pain now, even if it always seemed difficult to breathe or move.

"Hi, did I miss you?"

"You especially frightened me, great idiot."

"Sorry..."

"What is that?"

All the firemen turned to a redhead doctor, surprised by this crowd.

"Luckily I said 'if possible two or three people at a time in the room'...", Will Halstead whispered, laughing at the same time.

He should have suspected that this sentence was not going to work with the firemen.

"Doc, technically, they're only two in the room, we're outside", Herrmann remarked.

The other firemen began to laugh when they saw the head of the ER doctor. After all, they were right, they had taken him at his word by not going into the room. They let him pass, however.

"Firemen…"

He walked over to the bed, realizing that Matt was awake, though still groggy because of the painkillers given to him earlier.

"The OR is free, we'll take him to surgery", Will told Kelly and Gabby. "I promise we will bring him back soon", he reassured Dawson.

While making Matt move as little as possible, Gabby kissed him to give him courage.

"You have to come back quickly, Louie is waiting impatiently for you, and me too."

"Will do my best…"

One last kiss, and Will separated the fresh married couple to take Casey into surgery. Again, they had all had a big fright, and it could have turned into drama, because a three-story fall was not nothing. Especially since it was not his first attempt. Luckily, he was like cats, he had nine lives. He now had five lives left, which he would no doubt preserve.


	2. Four lives left

Hello everyone! Time for a quick reading ^^

I started this OS two weeks ago, without having any time to finish it (unfortunately). But here it is, all done, ready to get read by you!

I decided to do something: As there had been an OS called "Nine lives", I thought it would be nice to... Well, continue this OS by doing drabbles (I guess) until Casey has no life left?

I hope you will like it and leave me a review then :p

* * *

The whole team had been called to a house fire about two minutes out of firehouse 51. As usual, battalion chief Wallace Boden leading the fire trucks train and the two paramedics _Gabriela Dawson and Sylvie Brett_, with their powerful vehicles, arrived on scene first in order to determine the extent of the disaster but also to provide first aid if needed. The building was almost engulfed by flames on the first floor and smoke was coming out from open windows of the second floor. Chief Boden could hear the sirens of the three fire trucks _Engine 51, Truck 81 and Squad 3_ and he had to analyze the situation as quickly as possible so that the teams could do their job effectively. Ready to grab his radio, he stopped when he saw a man coming out of this chaos through the front door, covering his face, coughing heavily while staggering. The two paramedics rushed over him in order to make him seat on the tar and provide first aid.

"What happened?" Chief Boden asked.

With his still hard breathing, he answered with an oxygen mask on his face, slipped by the paramedic in charge.

"A short on the first floor. The... The fire started immediately and spread."

"How many apartments?"

"Twelve! Seven are occupied but only four of them are currently inhabited. Many people are in school or at work", the man assured.

Boden knew it more than anyone else in his crew, he had learned a lot in thirty years of duty: all the apartment had to be checked. The other firefighters arrived on scene and got out of the respective trucks, the three lieutenants in charge of the teams advancing towards their chief to have the first report while the crew remained near the vehicles.

"We have a fire apparently of electrical origin starting from the first floor. The latter is already on fire, the second floor shouldn't delay catching fire as well. Twelve apartments, four per floor. Engine, I want a line inside and two outside, one on the roof and one on the facade. Squad, Truck, you know what to do."

"Yes, Chief", Lieutenant Severide in charge of Squad 3 and Lieutenant Casey in charge of Truck 81 and Dawson's husband affirmed at the same time.

The three lieutenants separated in order to make the teams.

"Mouch, Otis, up the aerial to vent. Kidd, Herrmann, with me. Search and rescue", Casey started.

Hearing his best friend and colleague, Severide continued.

"Tony, Capp, on the first floor. Cruz, with me on the second floor with Casey."

The latter turned to the other lieutenant, surprised. Usually, their company used to divide to have a floor each. But suddenly, he remembered; an electrical fire with the second floor not already hit, this floor was now the priority for search and rescue in order to limit the amount of injured and dead people. The usual procedure. He nodded and everyone took their oxygen tank to work in a dangerous situation. As they climbed the stairs, Tony and Capp turned left to the first floor, leaving all the rest of the firemen to go up to the second floor.

"Kidd, Herrmann, all the way to the left. I take the apartment to the right", Lieutenant Casey ordered.

Cruz and Severide said nothing, knowing perfectly that they would go with him. Stella and Christopher rushed to the bottom of the corridor, opening the door manually and getting out with two people a couple seconds later to lead them to the ambulances stationed at the front of the building, before going in again and continue the evacuation. The first apartment to the right being empty, Severide kicked the second door and entered, followed by Cruz and Casey.

"Fire Department! Call out!" Severide screamed through his oxygen mask.

"Help!" the three firefighters could hear in the distance.

Beginning with the rooms to the left, they found three people, including a toddler, curled up under a bed in order to protect themselves from the fumes.

"Come on, we'll get you out."

The parents gave their baby to Cruz who rushed out of this building as fast as possible because he was more sensitive than any other people. Severide took care of the mother, leaving the father with his best friend, who had more strength than him. The man was quite corpulent and Matt was doing his best to keep his balance intact while supporting almost all the weight of his victim. Step one. Step two. One staircase. Still another one to go down. The father, still unwilling to help his savior, placed all his weight on Lieutenant Casey, who lost his balance while approaching the fourth step. The two men went ahead, and Matt barely had time to turn around to protect the father on their fall, the edge of the stairs meeting his back as they tumbled down the stairs. The almost unconscious body of the man he was trying to rescue came upon him in a dull clatter at the level of his right shoulder. He felt something crack, and then, a strong and lancinating pain quickly seized his body. He couldn't restrain a long cry of agony. He had experienced severe pain, but this one surpassed all the others he had had by far. He didn't even dare to move as he was in so much pain. With every breath he took, spasms roamed his body, he gritted teeth intermittently. He decided to close his eyes, the world around him beginning to move in all directions although he hadn't moved an inch. Dizziness seized him, as well as nausea. He swore he hadn't bumped his head. That was weird. His breathing became more shallow and difficult as he struggled against the gigantic suffering in which he was. The worst of all was that the father wasn't moving an inch and was crushing all his right side, accentuating the impression that everything was pain. Just pain. Although he was in pain, he had perfectly well understood two distinct cracks. The more seconds passed, the less he dared to move or even breathe. The screams he tried to hold back came to Lieutenant Severide and Cruz, who had entered the building again to check all the rooms in all the apartments of the second floor. Together, they took care of the man on Casey, Herrmann and Kidd coming as well as they followed Squad 3 members, the apartments on the first floor being now emptied.

"Taking a nap at work? Seriously?" Kelly smirked, trying to ease the pain in which his best friend was in.

He nearly swallowed back his smile as he saw the face of his friend, strongly marked by the unbearable pain that his body was throwing at him. He then realized that the injury seemed serious; Casey expressing rarely his pain.

"Come on, I'll get you out to Brett and your wife."

The lieutenant said nothing and he just gritted his teeth as Severide tried to create a makeshift sling for his right arm. But the biggest pain came when he tried to straighten himself out of the burning building. The flames on the first floor made much less noise than a cry of agony from his friend who preferred to suffer in silence than admitting that he was in pain. The bottom of his back seemed to be stuck to the point that even breathing hurt. In shock, infatuated with pain, the sentence he uttered sent to Severide a cold sweat and a dark shiver.

"I... I can't feel my legs", he whispered.

Urgently, Kelly grabbed his radio while he indicated to Cruz to get out and bring a backboard.

"Chief! Casey's down! The father and he seemed to have fallen down the stairs! He said he can't feel his legs!"

It was the massive blow in the firehouse crew, and a wave of anxiety seized the two paramedics, especially Gabby. Chief Boden turned to her, lucid enough to know that she was going to be the most anxious of the whole crew; he was her husband after all. Dawson's advantage was that she was the PIC, but she worked for two years as a firefighter. Thus, it was possible to send her in the fires in cases of serious injuries requiring assistance without immediate transport possibilities.

"Dawson, put your mask on. You're going in with Cruz."

"Got it, Chief."

She rushed into the ambulance, where her turnout gear was, and then took one of the oxygen tanks in the right compartment of Truck 81. She then took a special stretcher for this kind of injury, not taking the first aid kit because it could catch fire and waited for Cruz to go out. Once out with the father, taken care of by Shout and his teammate, Dawson left with his colleague, heading the stairs. Severide had done his best to cut the bonds that connected the oxygen tank to Casey's jacket in order to keep his back straight, which seemed much more painful than staying still. Arriving near her husband, she crouched down, trying to access his wounds.

"Tell me everything", she asked Severide.

"The father and he seemed to have fallen down the stairs. Casey protected him and took the hit. What I understand is that his back cracked while hitting the steps and his right clavicle seems broken. He said he can't feel his legs", Kelly summarized.

Gabby could read the pain on the face of his beloved, a feeling she rarely could see. Usually, he said he was fine, even if he was in pain. But not there; he barely had the strength to breathe because of this so much pain. Boden ordered Herrmann and Kidd to continue the search and rescue on the second floor, replacing Severide and Cruz with Tony and Capp. Reluctant, they executed; there were probably still some people to save. At Dawson's request, Kelly crawled to the level of Matt's head to keep it perfectly still. To do so, he lay down on his stomach and held his head by placing his hands on his temples, cheeks and jaws.

"Okay, Matt. I want you to be very honest with me. Where does it hurt?"

Squeezing his eyes shut and still gritting his teeth, he tried to keep control of his breathing before answering his wife a few seconds later.

"Back. Bottom."

"Where exactly?"

"Uh... Near my ribs."

"Okay, I know that'll hurt, but I have no choice okay?"

"What?"

"I'm gonna unhook your coat, and pass my fingers over the area that should be painful. It's to see where it hurts you most. You'll say stop, okay?"

"Kay...", he replied weakly, sweat profusely streaming down his face as he was struggling to keep his composure.

He was still nauseous and dizzy, but having his wife taking care of him eased the pain in a way. That only meant that she would do everything in her hands to help him. Gently, she pulled the buttons one by one and opened his jacket. Once she did so, she placed three of her fingers in her left hand underneath the injured area to climb up to the area that Matt had pointed out as the most painful. The latter let out the longest sigh he could while keeping his eyes closed.

"Matt? What is it?"

"Nothing", he assured. "I... I can feel your fingers."

Severide and Dawson stared at each other, relieved. Even though Matt was in shock, he had kept an ounce of lucidity; if he could feel his wife's fingers lower than the area he had felt cracking, it meant that even if he couldn't feel his legs, there was no apparent neurological damage. The lack of sensation in the legs was probably due to the shock he had received by falling down the stairs, and that reassured everyone, including Matt.

"That's good, Matt", Gabby precised anyway. "Keep going up."

As Matt mentally prepared to scream at the pain Gabby had predicted, she continued to raise her fingers, palpating her husband's body at the level of his spine. A single finger, a single inch could awaken in him a pain so atrocious that he didn't want it to happen. But it happened.

"STOP!"

Severide had a hard time keeping Matt's head upright as he struggled horribly against the pain. But the more he tried to dissipate it by moving, the more powerful it became, and the more he cried. Kelly couldn't look at it; he looked away as he closed his eyes while Gabby pulled his fingers away.

"Matt! Matt, stay calm! The more you move, the more it hurts!"

Several seconds later, her words seemed to have entered his brain; he stopped moving but kept screaming. The two friends had never seen Casey in such a state.

"Gabby?"

"Okay, Matt? It seems that the fall has lead to a possible fracture on your back. As you could feel my fingers, I don't think there is any neurological damage. But I need you to stay as still as possible, alright?"

"It's bad, isn't it?"

"We're going to MED, they will know more than I do. But for now, I need you to beat a statue to Red Light, Green Light", she asked, teasing her husband to keep him still.

For the first time in nearly ten minutes, Kelly saw a slight smile through his mask on Matt's face.

"Will do my best", he promised.

"Alright, Kelly? Can you come over here and help me? We have to slide these two parts below Matt to create a stretcher."

Kelly grabbed one piece and placed himself on Matt's left side while Gabby remained on his right side. As the firefighter didn't know how this worked, he stared at the paramedic, waiting for instructions.

"First of all, you will place the piece of stretcher like this."

He watched her as she put the stretcher at ground level. He did the same with a questioning look.

"Now, we slide the part under the head of Matt, until we hear the small click. Matt, you're still here?"

"Can't talk if I want to beat this damn statue..."

They two friends laughed silently.

"You're right, sorry. You'll tell me who wins?"

"Mhh", he grunted.

"Alright, Kelly? Time to slide the stretcher."

Lieutenant Severide nodded as on the radio, Tony assured that the building was now clear. They were just waiting for Severide, Dawson and Casey to get out of there so that Engine 51 could start their job; kill the flames and the fire to prevent complete destruction of the building. So, Dawson and Severide pushed their pieces to approach them until they could hear the famous click. Slowly, Matt's head went up as the stretcher was created. Finally, after several seconds, they could hear a noise that indicated that both pieces of the stretcher were connected.

"Okay, this is gonna be the painful part, Matt. We have to slide the second part of the stretcher near your legs, but...", she stopped, unable to finish her sentence.

"But my back will kill me?" Matt finished what she wanted to say to him.

"Like Hell, indeed", she confirmed, aware that these movements would be very hard on Matt.

"We're going to do it on my count, okay? Ready?"

"Uh... No?"

"We need to do this, Matt. We have no other choice; the building can collapse now."

Lieutenant Casey let out a sigh, his eyes remaining closed as Gabby was about to count.

"Kay, I am ready to scream in pain", he smirked.

"On my count, Kelly. One. Two. Three."

Carefully, they approached the board of the stretcher near the legs of Matt. They could hear him growl as the pieces approached each other, his back going up just like his head before. Once again, they could hear a small click; the special backboard had been correctly created. Now, they had to head out of this Hell, and this wouldn't be an easy thing because they could have a stretcher available inside. They had to lift Matt until out to finally place it on the stretcher from the ambulance.

"Okay, Matt? The worst part is coming right now. We have no other choice but to lift you until we're out."

"As still as a statue... Playing Red Light, Green Light."

"That's it. You're ready?"

"Do it before I can say 'no'", Matt stated, joking a little.

As Herrmann and Kidd came back down the stairs to help their two colleagues with Matt, Kelly went next to his face again on his left, Dawson did the same with his right leg, Kidd going to his left leg as Herrmann took place on the right of the face.

"You're all ready?"

"Yes", everyone said at the same time.

"On my count, gently. One, two, three!"

Carefully, taking their time, they lifted the stretcher with Matt on, trying to ignore his cries of pain. Once they had reached the objective, they advanced gently towards the exit, Brett and Chief Boden waiting firmly for them, one to reassure himself about the health of one of his men, and the other to assist her colleague in taking care of the injured firefighter. Once the headed out, they got surrounded by the whole firehouse but Engine who took this opportunity to open up the water cannons and fight the fire. Boden and Brett lowered the stretcher so that it was at the height of the board the four firefighters were carrying at arm's length.

"One, two, three, lift!"

Gently, they all put their strength in getting Matt properly placed on the stretcher, secured with straps and everything to keep him as stable as possible. Brett took two towels and rolled them up to form rolls and to place them at Matt's head instead of placing a rigid neck brace that could aggravate his injuries during their ride to the hospital.

"Okay guys, let's get him to the rig!" Brett ordered.

Together, they rolled carefully the stretcher to the back of the ambulance, then placed Matt inside before shutting the door, so that Brett could take the wheel and head to the nearest hospital.

"Chief..."

"Go Severide. Capp is covering you on that one."

Chief Boden was very well aware that Kelly would be in no shape of doing the overhaul, that he needed to be near Casey and tell himself that everything was going to be fine. He knew that.

"Thank you, Chief."

Kelly opened the doors again and jumped inside, scaring Dawson as she was providing the first care.

"Couldn't let Matt take a nap. Again", he smirked, trying to justify his presence in the ambulance.

The whole firehouse stared at Ambulance 61 for a long time, going away from the scene of the disaster before turning in the corner of a street, out of sight of the firefighters.

"Alright, I know everyone here wants to go straight to the ER, but we have a job here to finish. Focus on that, we'll go after."

"Copy that, Chief."

Everyone indeed wanted to race at MED, but what they needed to do right now was to focus on their job. Matt would have wanted it that way. Inside the ambulance, Kelly listened to the instructions given by Gabby. She needed to create an IV line to keep his husband hydrated and to give him a slight dose of morphine. Every bump of the ambulance made him still grunt in agony. In the meantime, Lieutenant Severide followed Dawson's order and placed an oxygen mask on his best friend's face.

"Nice and easy, bro."

"Shouldn't... Shouldn't have broken this damn mirror yesterday...", Matt said, smiling.

Kelly frowned, not aware of what his friend was talking about.

"He broke my mirror from the bathroom while shaving his beard."

Now, he understood. All this thing for a broken mirror? He didn't even know that Casey was superstitious. So, he decided to delight the atmosphere of the back of the ambulance by joking with Matt. It also allowed Gabby to settle an IV and keep Matt talking instead of having him fall asleep.

"So that's it? You're going to be a bad luck guy for seven years, aren't you?"

"Could take some... Some years off?"

"Years off? And do what? Fishing? You could be hooked by your own fishing rod!"

"Climbing?"

"Worse! Imagine losing your grip on a rock, and you fall? You're a dead man! Even driving could trigger an accident, or..."

"Shut up, Mister Flirt."

"Here we go again...", Kelly smiled, not remembering this nickname from Matt.

He had given this nickname to Severide couple years ago because the latter couldn't settle in a serious relationship.

"You can talk, Mister Alderman."

"Not anymore."

"You're still our Alderman."

"Go to Hell..."

"I would like to... And pay you a visit within the next seven years."

The two men laughed as the morphine was kicking Matt off the pain.

"You're still with us Matt?"

"Going already down to Hell, welcoming Kelly..."

"He's already high?" Kelly asked Gabby in a whisper.

"Opioids are too effective on him, you know that. That's why I asked you to place an oxygen mask."

"Keep his breathing intact?"

Gabby nodded, doing what she was able to know his blood pressure and heart rate. High as expected, but not dangerously high.

"You're doing great Matt", she affirmed, stroking her husband's arm to cheer him up.

"We're here!" Brett screamed from the wheel.

Thirty seconds later, she was at the back of the ambulance opening the doors and helping Severide and Gabby with the stretcher. Once inside the ER, they were encircled by a doctor and three nurses.

"Thirty-six-year-old firefighter fell down a stair. Possible broken right clavicle and L1. He's had five of morphine. BP at 156 over 102, rapid heartbeat at 135. A liter of saline in route", Dawson explained to the doctors and nurses around the stretcher, trying to remain as professional as possible.

"Neurological damage?"

"He said first that he couldn't feel his legs but he felt my fingers on his back below the injured area. Now he has tingling", Gabby continued to explain.

"Okay, Bagdad is free", Maggie screamed while the stretcher was loaded to the given room.

"Careful with the corner", a nurse warned the two paramedics.

They entered the room, filled with all sorts of machines. The medical staff called this room Bagdad for a reason: they had everything inside for patient with serious injuries. The stretcher stopped near the hospital bed, and together they managed to place the backboard and Matt on it as gently as possible. The doctor then pushed aside the oxygen mask on Lieutenant Casey's face to talk to him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Trying to win the game...", was the only answer Matt could give, the physician remaining speechless as he didn't understand what his patient meant.

"Is he high with five of morphine?"

"Sort of. We gave him a game to win while we were trying to slide the stretcher below him. The aim was to win Red Light, Green Light against a statue", Lieutenant Severide said with a smile as he was politely pushed aside by one of the nurses.

"Ah, I get it. You win Matt?"

"Uh... Let's call it a draw?"

"A draw it is then", Dr. Choi joked as he placed the mask back on before turning to his staff. "I need CBC, ABG, blood panel. Lumbar spine x-ray and CT-scan first", he ordered then. "Matt? I'm going to do some physical exams, alright?"

"Kay", he answered weakly, tired of staying awake.

"Matt, you have to stay awake on this one", a nurse reminded him as she headed to his neck in order to remove the rolls encircling his own head.

Hardly, he popped his eyes open, but soon he closed them again, frowning.

"Are you okay, honey?"

"Dizzy... Nauseous."

"When this started?"

"Uh... The fall."

"Do you remember hitting your head?"

"No", Matt answered simply. "Didn't hit my head."

"Okay, let's talk about your back first. I'm going to take one of your legs and I want you to try to keep it as rigid as possible."

"Kay..."

Once the explanation was given, Dr. Choi took Matt's left leg and his patient did his best to keep it straight as he lifted the leg. But as soon as he started lifting, Matt was seized by a dull pain coming from his back.

"Stop it!" he screamed immediately. "Stop it..." he repeated after Ethan placed his leg back on the bed.

"Okay, it's all over, Matt. We'll do an x-ray and a Ct-scan now."

Outside the room, in the waiting room, Brett, Gabby and Kelly couldn't sit. They paced around before they were joined by the entire firehouse.

"Any words?"

"Not yet. It may take a while", Brett explained, Gabby and Kelly still perambulating.

Everyone remained as patient as possible while the doctor and the nurses were treating Matt in Bagdad. After an hour, Dr. Ethan Choi opened the door and stepped outside, heading toward the waiting room to talk to everyone. He knew that they would be all there because firefighters were deeply bonded to each other. If one of them was hurt, then everyone was there for him or her. They were like a gigantic and united family. They all stood up, Gabby and Kelly in front of everyone as they met the physician, who started explaining the extent of Matt's injuries.

"He has what we call a non-medullary compression L1 fracture, which is a stable fracture with no neurological damage, so no need of surgery for that. He will have a back brace the time for the lumbar vertebra to heal; it should take one to two months. He also has a broken clavicle, which requires surgery. It should take a month or so to heal properly. He will start rehab as soon as possible, even if with less an arm, this won't be easy. Couple bumps and bruises here and there as well, but nothing to worry about."

"So... He's okay? I mean... He'll make a full recovery?"

"It looks like it, indeed. Like I said, there is no neurological damage. His loss of sensation below the injury was due to the shock. If everything goes as planned, he should go back to light duty in three to four months. Mostly four months considering his broken clavicle."

"The fracture was the reason why he was in so much pain? Because trust me, Casey is not the kind of guy showing any pain."

"CT-scan showed torn muscles around the injured area, this explains this amount of pain he was in. An OR is free, so we're taking him up to there."

"Can I see him first?" Gabby asked very gently.

"Of course, less than five minutes, but he's very high. We did an epidural to stop the pain for the next couple days.

"Can I see him too? Please?"

Severide needed to see his best friend and brother. He needed to see that he was indeed okay. The physician, aware of their strong friendship, nodded, explaining that Matt was pretty out of it because of the morphine and the epidural. But Kelly didn't care; all he wanted was to see him. He followed Gabby in the room, leaving the entire firehouse 51 for five minutes in the waiting room. At the sight of Matt, they felt both relieved and worried. He seemed deeply asleep, his skin was slightly pale, his face no longer obstructed by the oxygen mask but only a nasal cannula to help his breathing because of the amount of morphine in his bloodstream. His right arm was in a temporary sling, his bare chest was in a brace as he lay flat on the mattress, avoiding any movement from Matt. Four electrodes were covering his skin to keep an eye on his heartbeat, a BP-cuff was encircling his left arm for his blood pressure and an oximeter remained in place in his index finger. Gabby directly headed for his right hand, squeezing it as Matt's started frowning before opening his eyes slightly.

"Hey, baby. How are you feeling?"

"No longer in pain", he answered honestly. "I win", he tried to smirk.

"Still an unlucky guy for me, Mister Alderman", Kelly joked in turn.

Matt tried to have a sight of his friend, but he wasn't able to move his head, too tired and groggy to do so. Understanding Matt's position, he decided to move forward the bed and be next to Matt, so that he could see him.

"You scared us, you know?"

"Sorry... Didn't mean to."

"You're forgiven, trust me. You're going up to surgery for your clavicle."

"Oh."

"You have three to four months off duty. Enough time to get you in trouble again", Kelly laughed, making Matt and Gabby smile in turn.

"You would have taken this time off to get comforted by almost all women living in Illinois..."

Recently, Severide was trying to find a serious relationship, especially after what he had just lived with Anna. What his brother had just said hurt him a little, but in view of his behavior up to now, and being as high as a kite because of the painkillers, he couldn't blame his little brother. The door opened, letting a doctor appear.

"Alright, it's time to go to the OR now."

Kelly squeezed Matt's hand one last time, Gabby took the time to kiss her husband before the bed was wheeled in the hallway to surgery. Another life lost for Matt. Kelly was worried because now, he had only four lives left. And at the rate at which it was going, it would soon end...


End file.
